The last of the cobblers

When Michael Rice first started learning his trade in 1980, there were half a dozen cobblers in Ballina alone.

Now, there are fewer than 30 nationwide but two still standing in Ballina - Michael Rice on Tolan Street and his one-time apprentice, Harry McCafferty, uptown on Tone Street.

Both men wonder for how much longer the trade will be viable as fast fashion and many other changes over the decades combine to undermine the business case for cobblers.

“Twenty years ago this was a very busy trade but it has declined a lot in the last decade. Covid is a factor and so is people not buying shoes that last as much as they once did. It is a dying trade and I can see a time when there will be no shoe repair shop in Mayo,” said Michael who trained in Boylan’s in Dublin before taking up work with Michael Rowe at Brogue Shoe Repair in Ballina. 

He went out on his own in 1984, initially starting out in McAndrew’s Arcade before setting up shop where he is to this day, The Shoe Hospital on Tolan Street, a short stone’s throw from the River Moy.

“A friend of mine was doing it and I thought I’d give it a go and here I still am,” explained Michael.

For some years, the late Vinny Walsh worked with him.

“Vinny was a cobbler before me and knew the old trade and I was learning the new tricks from different courses so we had a great blend. We had a great camaraderie.” 

Fast fashion and online shopping have changed the game when it comes to footwear.

“People buy online and you obviously can’t try on the shoe, and people don’t know that they can get a shoe stretched if it is too tight or the size of the heel reduced. We do a bit of that,” said Michael. “My customer would be people who buy good shoes and they might get the soles and the heels done three or four times on that pair of shoes. Cheap shoes wouldn’t be worth being fixed.

“It’s harder to judge shoes now too, because there are so many different materials being used and they are harder to fix as a result,” he explains.

After setting up his own business, Michael did a course in shoemaking in 1987 so he is both a cobbler and a shoemaker. However, he didn’t pursue the latter for long.

“You would only be able to make one or two pairs a week, it was very slow work and the rest of the business would suffer. It didn’t make sense to stick at it,” he said.

He cuts keys as well, but the cobbling trade has changed considerably in recent years.

“It’s a different trade altogether. It used to be all soles and heels. Zips being fixed is a big thing now, on bags and boots and horse riding equipment. I do a lot of that type of work. The zips made nowadays are not great at all,” he said.

He used to operate six days a week but has now pulled it back to three or four days. It is part business, part social outlet at this point.

“Every day the lads come in, sit down for the tea and the craic. I enjoy people coming in chatting. It’s not the money you’re here for, the money isn’t in it anymore.

“I will keep at it. What else would I be doing? I was closed for 13 months during Covid and that was a reminder of how hard that would be,” he said.

Michael has seen a lot of change as a businessman in Ballina across five decades.

“I’d say business is only a quarter of what it once was. So many places closed during Covid, and that has reduced footfall massively. You still have to pay your costs just the same. It is hard to have a business in this town now,” he said.

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Up the way, Harry McCafferty has just the one teacup in his small shop on Tone Street.

“There’s one cup, just for me,” he said. “I’m not being mean but I get plenty of people calling for the craic and if I made tea for them, they’d never leave and I’d get no work done!” he quips.

In many ways, he is a sitting duck, at the mercy of anyone walking by who might stop and throw in a bit of slagging.

Harry, a pleasant man possessed of a quick wit, can take it and is well able to give it back. Although, as a Manchester United fan, he is more on the receiving end these days.

“There’s no escape for me with the jibbers passing by,” he laughs. 

While we are there, there’s plenty of evidence of this and it’s clearly a good social hub.

This month he is celebrating 30 years in business. He started off his working life with Duffy’s Bakery before working with Michael Rice for a decade. He went out on his own in 1995. The two grew up together as neighbours in Mount Assumpta, and though they are in direct competition, they get on well.

“The town is big enough for the two of us,” said Harry.

But how long that will continue to be the case is debatable.

Harry sees many similar challenges to Michael Rice. Plenty of factors have changed the nature of the game.

“We live in a throwaway society. A lot of the cheaper shoes are not worth repairing. The people who come to me would typically be people who polish their shoes, take pride in their appearance and generally buy a better quality of shoe. They may be of the older generation,” explained Harry.

The grá for his work is clear from Harry. Even though he is approaching 70, retirement is not something that appeals to him.

“I’m in no rush to go anywhere. This is a good reason to get up in the morning. I love meeting different people every day and being asked to fix different things. I would try to fix anything if I thought I could do it, just for the challenge. You’d get a lot of horse blankets to patch, fixing saddles, bridles and zips in the long riding boots,” he said.

He shows a small dog’s coat with a zip where he has been asked to fix the zip. Everything and anything.

Harry used to be able to predict when he would be busy but ‘since Covid it is harder to read it’.

“Weather wise, if you’ve a good summer, you’ll be quiet because everyone will be in Enniscrone. But then if it is too wet, people might not leave the house!

“It is definitely quieter than it used to be. I used to have people who would come from Achill or Ballycastle once a month, now you might only see them every second month.

“September is my time of the year. The wet weather is coming back, shoes might be leaking whereas people would be more inclined to wear runners in the summer,” he explains.

It is a busy Saturday afternoon, and traffic congestion is very apparent in Ballina.

“Footfall is not what it used to be, but the mad thing is traffic is worse. They’re on about a bypass all my life, but I’ll never see it.

“The build-up of traffic coming into the town from Hollister every day is very bad. It is not helping the town and it's why people often go to Castlebar instead. Insurance and rates are a challenge too and we’ve nothing to show for the rates. I think it was better when we had the town council in Ballina, there was more heed on what was happening in the town,” he said.

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Both men have plenty of stories to tell beyond their working lives.

Michael Rice was a noted marathon runner in the 1980s and 1990s, at a time when it was not as fashionable as it is now. He was a member of the former Ballina Harriers club, all marathon runners, and ran 26 marathons from 1984 to the mid-1990s, including a very impressive personal best of two hours and 57 minutes in Belfast in 1991.

“I had never heard of anyone running marathons before we were doing it. There were nowhere near as many events as now, so the marathons we ran were the annual ones in Derry, Belfast and Dublin,” he explained.

While we talk, renowned singer Gerry Guthrie pops in. He is helping Rice organise a charity colour run for the Irish Cancer Society and has posters printed off for it. Guthrie himself spent a couple of years training as a cobbler with Rice as a young fella before a singing career beckoned.

Incredibly, this is the 36th year that Rice has been running the event and a fine total of over €100,000 has been raised in that time.

He was also involved as a coach with Ardnaree Boxing Club and then helped set up St Mary’s Boxing Club in the town. They had notable successes with a handful of Irish champions in their short time in existence. A large framed photograph of Rice with the late, great Ardnaree and Mayo footballer Joe Corcoran hangs on the wall in the shop.

Up on Tone Street on the wall behind Harry McCafferty are some prized photographs, Harry with his grandsons Remy and Charlie and the Ballina Town women’s team from 2006, which McCafferty managed to national WFAI Intermediate glory.

He played with Ballina Town all his playing career before devoting 12 years to the club’s girls’ and women’s teams He looks back with great fondness on that time as it was a real family effort. His two daughters Hazel and Orla played and his wife Eithne was heavily involved too behind the scenes.

“Those years were the best years of my life. As a family we went everywhere together in those 12 years. It was a great way to rear kids. You cannot beat sport, it keeps them away from other messing,” he said.

He is hoping to get back involved with Ballina Town in the coming years.

His other passion is music and he always makes sure to travel to whatever concerts he can get to. This summer he took in Iron Maiden, Neil Young and Joe Bonamassa.

Like those old rockers, Harry McCafferty and Michael Rice are still trucking along, doing what they love best, but they appear to be the last of their profession.